TCM, Coming Attractions: March 17th

42nd Street (1933) - When the star of a Broadway show can't go on, a chorus girl must take her place on opening night.

Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) - A young man tries to conceal his background while helping put on a Broadway show.

Professional Sweetheart (1933) - A young radio star's on-air persona is one of complete purity, but she longs to break out and be wild.

Rafter Romance (1933) - Two people meet and fall in love before they realize that they are roommates.

Carnival Boat (1932) - A young logger falls in love with a showgirl.

Suicide Fleet (1931) - During WWI, three sailors love the same girl.

Chance at Heaven (1934) - A poor man breaks it off with his girlfriend to marry an heiress.

The Tenderfoot (1932) - Hoping to get rich, a cowboy backs a Broadway show.

You Said a Mouthful (1932) - An inventor is mistaken for a championship swimmer.

The Tip-Off (1932) - A radio repairman falls for a gangster's girl.

Finishing School (1934) - [This is TCM's brief synopsis:] "A boarding-school girl has to cope with family problems and puppy love."

For specific airing times see TCM's schedule.

TCM, Coming Attractions: March 10th

TCM is starting their salute to Ms. Rogers this Wednesday with all ten of her movies with Fred Astaire. The movies are listed according to the order in which they will be aired, and I've included a short plot synopsis for each film.

The Gay Divorcee (1934) - An unhappily married woman mistakes a dancer for her corespondent.

Top Hat (1935) - A woman mistakes her suitor for the husband of her best friend.

Swing Time (1936) - An gambler falls in love with a dance teacher, but he is already engaged to another woman.

Roberta (1935) - An American football player falls in love with a fashion designer after inheriting his aunt's fashionable Parisian dress shop.

Follow the Fleet (1936) - Two sailors fall in love with a pair of sisters in New York.

Shall We Dance (1937) - When a rumor that they are married reaches the press, two famous dancers believe that the only way to stop the rumor is to marry and publicly divorce, but it turns out that it isn't quite so simple.

Carefree (1938) - A woman falls in love with her fiancé's psychiatrist buddy.

The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle (1939) - Beautified biography of the famous dancing couple.

The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) - A Broadway director can't resist helping his wife in her new play, even after she leaves him.

Flying Down to Rio (1933) - A womanizing bandleader falls in love with the Brazilian beauty who is engaged to his best friend.

All of these are worth seeing, really, but I particularly recommend Top Hat, Swing Time, and Shall We Dance. Those are my three favorites.

A Night At The Oscars

Today marks the 69th anniversary of my two favorite actors in the entire world winning the highest honors in the film community. That's right, folks. The Academy Award. I feel I just have to commorate this marvelous ocassion, so let's all get dolled up and head on over to the Biltmore Hotel where the 13th Annual Awards Dinner of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is being held.

Here is Miss Rogers, entering the Biltmore with her mother, Lela Rogers. I especially love these pictures because Ginger looks so genuinely happy. She hasn't even won yet and still has a great big smile on her face. :)

She was so pretty!

Now that everyone has arrived, it's time to hand out the awards. The Best supporting actor and actress awards were given to walter Brennan and Jane Darwell, and Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca was just announced as best Piture. Now it's time for the big awards, Best Actor & Best Actress.

And the Best Actress of 1940 is.... Ginger Rogers for Kitty Foyle!

She looks anxious and nervous while waiting to recieve her award.



Ginger giving her acceptence speech. I always love hearing this because in her autobiography, Ginger said she couldn't remember what she had said in her speech.


Back at the table, Ginger shares her excitement with her mother and Kitty Foyle producer David Hempsted.

And the Best actor of 1940 is.... James Stewart for The Philadelphia Story!


Jimmy's speech!


Everyone at Ginger's table is happy for Jimmy! Especially Ginger.


Jimmy listens as Ginger tells him congratulations all the way from her table.

Hurry! Let's catch the winner's after the ceremony before they leave!




Bob Hope snuck into this one, but Jimmy & Ginger were in too good of moods to mind.



Mr. Stewart & Ms. Rogers were kind enough to pose for one last photo before heading over to Chasen's to celebrate.



Congratulations, Jimmy & Ginger!

"I Don't Mean To Be Rude, But Am I Correct In Assuming You're Not A Singer?"

If you thought Ginger Rogers never made a professional music record, you would be wrong. Ginger actually made many records throughout her career. Probably the most famous are what I call the "Top Hat recordings". The records Ginger made for Decca in 1935 where she sang the songs from Top Hat. That was the first time she had made any records and there was a clause in her contract that said if she did not like the finished result, the records would be destroyed. Well, Decca ended up shipping them over to England and sold the records there. In her autobiography, Ginger stated she was furious and that whole experience put a damper on her recording career for many years.

However, I found out she did make more records in the late 1930s. She recorded a studio version of "Let Yourself Go" from Follow The Fleet in 1936 (which some of you may have heard, as it is available for download on iTunes), but I don't know if she recorded any other songs from that movie. I And in 1938 she made a studio recording of "I Used To Be Color Blind" from Carefree. I was surprised to find that she had made these recordings after I read about her feelings on the Decca fiasco. After all, Follow The Fleet was released only a year after Top Hat, and I'm pretty sure records aren't made a year in advance.

I did not find out until just recently that Ginger made even more professional recordings, apart from the ones already mentioned and her later recordings in the 1960s and 70s. I recieved 2 78 rpm records in the mail today, one from Bluebird, with studio recordings of I Used To Be Color Blind and The Yam, both from carefree. The Yam!! I had no idea Ginger made a studio recording of this song! They are both marvelous recordings and I think she sounds great on the both the songs.

The other record I recieved brought up some questions. It is a Decca record from 1935, and no, the songs are not from Top Hat. One of them is a duet with Johnny Mercer called "Eeny Meeny Miney Mo", which another "greatest hits" Ginger record I have stated was from a radio broadcast, and side B was "Don't Mention Love To Me" from In Person. I had no idea Ginger even recorded any of the songs from that movie, either. I've been wondering if this Decca record was one of the records that Ginger didn't like and was shipped over to the UK. I looked on the record and didn't see any evidence of that, though I may look again just to be sure. Now, I'm biased, but I personally think she sounded fabulous on it. I know it's a lot better than I could do, anyway.

Some Interesting Information

I knew that Ginger was once engaged to Howard Hughes, but I did not know this:

In 1940, industrialist Howard Hughes purchased the land surrounding the famous sign to build a home for his future bride Ginger Rogers. Unfortunately, the relationship between Hughes and Rogers ended, and Hughes never built the intended home. He held onto the land, which has remained the pristine, protected Cahuenga Peak since then. [source]

Very interesting, I thought.

TCM March Star Of The Month

Guess who TCM chose as their Star Of The Month for March 2010? That's right, Ginger Rogers. An it's about time! I have seriously waited for her to be SOTM for 2 years people!! I am super excited, even though I've already seen all the movies the're showing. Hopefully there will be a lot of little extras, like those segments where they have co-tars or people who knew them talk about the SOTM or what it was like working with them etc. Because I've never seen one of those on Ginger yet.

And I LOVE the Now Playing cover, too. That photo is one of my favorites, and the even chose pink for the fon color. (Pink was Ginger's favorite color, if you didn't know).


Every Wednesday in March starting 8 PM Eastern on March 10 and running through April 1, TCM will be showing Ginger Rogers films. Here's the schedule:

March 10, 2010
8:00 PM: The Gay Divorcee (1934)
10:00 PM: Top Hat (1935)
12:00 AM: Swing Time (1936)
2:00 AM: Roberta (1935)

March 11, 2010
4:00 AM: Follow The Fleet (1936)
6:00 AM: Shall We Dance (1937)
8:00 AM: Carefree (1938)
9:30 AM: The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
11:15 AM: The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
1:15 PM: Flying Down to Rio (1933)

March 17, 2010
8:00 PM: 42nd Street (1932)
9:45 PM: Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
11:30 PM: Professional Sweetheart (1933)

March 18, 2010
1:00 AM: Rafter Romance (1934)
2:15 AM: Carnival Boat (1932)
3:30 AM: Suicide Fleet (1931)
5:00 AM: Chance At Heaven (1933)
6:15 AM: The Tenderfoot (1932)
7:30 AM: You Said A Mouthful (1932)
9:00 AM: The Tip-Off (1932)
10:15 AM: Finishing School (1934)

March 24, 2010
8:00 PM: Vivacious Lady (1938)
9:45 PM: Bachelor Mother (1939)
11:15 PM: Stage Door (1937)

March 25, 2010
1:00 AM: Having Wonderful Time (1938)
2:15 AM: Fifth Avenue Girl (1939)
3:45 AM: In Person (1935)
5:15 AM: Twenty Million Sweethearts (1934)
7:00 AM: Upperworld (1934)
8:15 AM: Romance In Manhattan (1935)
9:45 AM: Star Of Midnight (1935)
11:30 AM: Perfect Strangers (1950)

March 31, 2010
8:00 PM: Kitty Foyle (1940)
10:00 PM: Tom, Dick and Harry (1941)
11:30 PM: The Major and the Minor (1942)
1:30 AM: Primrose Path (1940)

April 1, 2010
3:15 AM: Lucky Partners (1940)
5:00 AM: Once Upon A Honeymoon (1942)
7:00 AM: Tender Comrade (1943)
8:45 AM: Weekend at the Waldorf (1946)
11:00 AM: The First Traveling Saleslady (1956)
12:45 PM: It Had to Be You (1947)
2:30 PM: Tight Spot (1955)

Though they're missing a few of my favorites (I'll Be Seeing You & Monkey Business) I know I'll be tuning in. Even though I have seen most of these 50 times already, it's still enjoyable to watch them on TV. I do wish they were showing Dreamboat & Harlow though, because I haven't seen those yet. Still, I've never seen The First Traveling Saleslady so I'll get to see that one. Mabe TCM doesn't have the right to the other two films? Hmmm, I don't know, but either way Wednesday's are going to be marvelous next month for sure.

Ginger Rogers

Some of you may be asking, “Why Ginger Rogers?” Well, why not? She was amazing, talented, gorgeous, and a lot of other great things. She appeared in 73 feature films, won an Academy Award, directed a musical at the age of 74, was an accomplished artist, and, oh yeah, did I mention she was also one half of the greatest dance team in movie history? I first became interested in Ginger in 2007 after seeing Swing Time (1936). That was my first Astaire/Rogers movie (and my favorite) and I instantly became a fan. I loved Ginger’s remarks to Fred Astaire, “If you’re trying to annoy me, you certainly are succeeding.” Or “When you’re talking to a lady you should take your hat off.” And after the “Pick Yourself Up” dance, I knew there was no turning back. I was hooked.

That’s the main reason I started this blog. I’m tired of never finding enough information about Ginger online. There seems to be so many Fred Astaire websites and fan tributes and, as much as I adore him, I feel Ginger deserves some recognition, too, because as she said it was a team effort and she was part of that team. I want this to be a place where fans can come and have intelligent, friendly discussions on Ginger, her movies, life etc and share opinions. I’ll try to update often, and I hope you enjoy the blog and will participate in the discussion because I’m just as ecstatic about hearing what you have to say!

Questions or comments? Feel free to e-mail me at: findingginger@gmail.com